Who: The event is sponsored by the Alliance for Brookline Schools, a project of Brookline PAX, the Brookline Parents Organization, Brookline for Racial Justice and Equity, the Brookline Educators Union, and Citizens for Public Schools.

Jeanette Deutermann is a mother of two boys and one of the founders of Long Island Opt-Out, a movement for whole-child education in New York state public schools. → Read More

Citizens for Public Schools supports the thousands of Boston parents who refused to accept the top-down mandate of drastically changed school start times.

The changes were ordered with no student involvement and after parents had been asked only for their general opinions on desirable school schedules. The actual changes under consideration were never revealed to parents during 18 months of supposed community engagement.

After many hours of testimony at a School Committee meeting, 8,500 signatures on a petition, and a series of community meetings at which parents, teachers, and students from across the city spoke out against the plan, School Superintendent Tommy Chang finally agreed to a one-year moratorium.

Though there was support for making high school start times later, opposition to the plan for elementary students was massive. And there was an apparent consensus that the process itself was fatally flawed, resulting in a plan that did not meet the needs of families. → Read More

On November 1, the Alliance for Brookline Schools (of which CPS is a member) sponsored “What ever happened to recess?” with author and educator Peter Gray. Professor Gray spoke on “Play Deficit Disorder: A National Crisis and How to Solve it Locally.”

For those who couldn’t join us, we are pleased to share two videos, one of Peter Gray’s talk, and the other of the panel discussion that followed, featuring Gray with Brookline teachers and a member of the Brookline School Committee. The panel was moderated by Adam Weiner, co-president of the Brookline Parents Organization.

Click here to view the video of Gray’s talk, and here to view the panel discussion. → Read More

Results from the next-generation MCAS exam show that, in most grades and subjects, more than half of Massachusetts students scored below the new “meeting expectations” level. The likely result of this will be more pressure to focus narrowly on increasing test scores, which will further narrow our curriculum and harm our students.

These results raise important questions that we hope will be asked and answered in the coming days and weeks:

1) A 2015 Mathematica study commissioned by Secretary James Peyser showed that neither the legacy MCAS nor PARCC measured college readiness accurately (scores accounted for only 5% to 18% of the variation in first-year college grades). Why should we expect that this new test will get any more accurate results?

2) DESE reports that Massachusetts students are first in the nation and perform at world-class levels based on a number of measures.

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Do Something Today: Sign the Less Testing, More Learning Petition

Join the thousands across Massachusetts who have signed onto this clarion call to end the misuse and overuse of standardized testing in our schools. More learning, less testing! To sign now, click
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Get the facts on “Families for Excellent Schools”

Read CPS's fact sheet on latest deep-pockets, out-of-state organization with a pro-charter
school agenda to set up shop in Boston, joining Stand for Children and Democrats for Education Reform. Click here to read the facts. Click here for a more in-depth look at the Wall Street money fueling FES.